Air Force Colonel Gets 5 Years In Child Pornography Plea Deal

FAIRFAX, VA — An active duty Air Force colonel was sentenced Friday in federal court to five years in prison as part of a plea agreement involving child pornography and taking pictures of girls without their consent, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

In addition to prison, Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III sentenced Mark Visconi, 48, of Fairfax, to 15 years of supervised release, ordered him to pay restitution to an identified victim and ordered him to complete 50 hours of community service. Heading into his sentencing, Visconi was facing five to 20 years in prison. He also must register as a sex offender.

According to court documents and admissions made in connection with the plea agreement, Visconi, an Air Force special operations pilot, received and attempted to receive child pornography through the Internet between November 2015 and June 2016. Visconi used an online bulletin board dedicated to the sharing of child pornography that operated on the anonymous Tor network to download child pornography. A forensic review of his laptop showed that Visconi downloaded and viewed numerous child pornographic images and videos, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Though not considered pornography, Visconi also used his cell phone to create hundreds of pictures focused on the clothed buttocks of minor girls. In a smaller subset of these pictures, Visconi appeared to take "upskirting" pictures of girls who were not aware the pictures were being taken, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Visconi was charged in August 2019 while working at the Pentagon and pleaded guilty in October to the charges. As part of the 50 hours of community service, Visconi, a 1993 graduate of the Air Force Academy, must engage in speaking or writing about his experience and conviction.

Stars and Stripes reported that that Visconi will receive an administrative discharge from the military.

Visconi will Visconi was investigated and prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to stop child sexual exploitation and abuse. Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitney Russell and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwendelynn E. Bills prosecuted the case in federal court.